


Happy Birthday, Richard

by florelunae



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Cliche, Fluffy Ending, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 13:37:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13905132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/florelunae/pseuds/florelunae
Summary: Richie Tozier hates celebrating his birthday. But it still stings when Bill Denbrough, his boyfriend of two and a half years, forgets it.





	Happy Birthday, Richard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bottcmrichie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottcmrichie/gifts).



> Hey so it’s the trashmouth’s birthday so I wrote this bichie modern day au where it’s his birthday. It took me all day to write and I’m posting it at midnight because I don’t plan ahead. I wanted to write a cute little fluff so I pretty much wrote the most cliche thing I could. So yeah, it’s cliche. I added slight angst, not much. Just enough to round it out (and make it even more cliche). Thanks to @bottcmrichie on tumblr with helping me with this.

There are many things that happened in history that you’ve never heard about, frankly because no one cared enough to remember. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. In 1923, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” was published. In 1974, Pearl Bailey and Richard Nixon serenaded a White House audience. In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win an Oscar. There’s only one thing that these events have in common. They all happened on March 7th. You know what else happened on March 7th? Richard Tozier was born.

  
Seventeen March 7th’s have passed since that of his birth. That’s all they are to him, just another year, another March 7th. Yes, it’s his birthday. His 18th, in fact. But it’s just another day, same as any else. And that’s what he was going to murder all six of his friends if they dared throw him another surprise party like they did two years ago. Not today, Satan. No thanks. It’s just a pointless celebration of growing closer to death, he didn’t see the appeal.

  
His friends are now well aware of his hatred of celebrating his birthday, even if they aren’t sure exactly why. But they respect it. They didn’t throw a party, not even a small get together. They all just sent him short happy birthday texts that morning and had gotten him simple presents, that was about as much as they could do without upsetting him.

  
Beverly and Stan showed up to school with a purple children’s book bag with pink sparkly hearts that was stuffed with Richie’s favorite junk foods. The food was a gift from Beverly. The bag from Stan, he always got Richie gag gifts instead of something real. Richie liked their presents, loving the food Bev had picked and finding the bag humorous. The three shared quite a few laughs over it. Eddie had gotten Richie hand sanitizer to clip to his backpack and a glasses cleaning kit, more for his own sanity than anything. Richie clipped the hand sanitizer to his bag with no intent of actually using it. Ben had written Richie a poem about how much their friendship meant to him. Richie almost cried and made a failed attempt to hide it by going on about how lame poetry is. Ben wasn’t offended, he knew Richie loved it. Mike got Richie a book of puns, much to everyone else’s displeasure. Richie had that baby cracked open in an instant, sharing his favorites with the group only to earn a choir of annoyed groans in response. Occasionally the pun would be so bad he’d get a ‘Beep beep, Richie’, which was honestly his goal here. And from Bill? Nothing. He didn’t get Richie anything. Didn’t even send as much as a quick happy birthday text that morning.

  
As much as Richie hated making a big deal of his birthday, he couldn’t help but be hurt. His boyfriend of two and a half years had forgotten his birthday, and they were close friends long before that. But it seemed apparent that Bill was completely unaware of the date or it’s significance. And he was also completely unaware of why Richie was staring him down in the school library during study hall, but he’s not completely stupid. He knew something had to be wrong.

  
Bill reached over and held Richie’s hand gently, “What’s up, Richie? S-Suh-Something on your mind?” He asked softly, knowing they’d be chastised if they spoke too loudly.

  
Richie shrugged, looking at their hands, “No… I’m just bored. Anything on your mind?”

  
“N-No. Why d-do you ask?” Bill raised an eyebrow.

  
Richie sighed softly, frowning, “No reason…”

  
Bill lifted their hands and kissed Richie’s bruised knuckles softly, bruises curtesy of one of the many fights he’s been in that Stan and Mike had to break up, “Why don’t we hang out t-tonight? Just me and you? We haven’t d-duh-done that in a while, I miss you.”

  
Richie couldn’t help the blush on his cheeks and the smile that spread across his face, “Yeah. I’d like that. I miss you too.”

  
“Good.” Bill smiled back at him, kissing his knuckles one last time before letting their hands rest on the table again, “We can just stay at m-my place, if you want. My p-puh-parents won’t be home, Georgie has parent t-teacher meetings tonight and they’re g-going to take him to his favorite restaurant if the t-teacher says he’s behaved. I know he has, s-s-so they’re going to be out late. That way it’d j-just be me and you for a few hours, we can g-get some dinner and just chill.”

  
“That sounds perfect. But we’re getting extra cheese pizza and buffalo wings, with Diet Coke. No exceptions.” Richie leaned over and kissed Bill softly, deciding to make the most of their night. He’d call Bill out on forgetting tomorrow.

  
But even having decided that, he couldn’t get Bill forgetting out of his head. Bill never forgot stuff like this. It hurt. A lot. He felt a sting in his heart that he couldn’t ignore. It’s all he could think about the rest of study hall, it still on his mind as Stan gave him a ride home like usual. He just couldn’t stop staring at his phone once he got to his room, waiting for something from Bill. A belated birthday wish, an apology, even just an ‘I love you’. Anything. But all he got were app notifications, a birthday meme from Beverly, and Snapchat streaks from Stan and Eddie. By then time Bill finally texted him two full hours had past and all he had to say was ‘come outside’.

  
Richie pulled himself off his bed before walking to his window as he put his phone in his back pocket, he peaked out the curtain and saw Bill’s car in his driveway. Richie smiled just slightly, he was still upset but he was trying to ignore that and enjoy a night alone with his boyfriend. This boy can definitely hold a grudge when he wants to, but right now he doesn’t want to. He just wants Bill to kiss him. So he grabbed the hoodie he’d stolen from Bill last year and pulled it on as he ran down the steps, quickly slipping into his Vans. The laces were tucked in so no tying necessary. Then he quickly ran out the garage door, he always used the garage. He can lose the key to the front door easily but he can’t lose the pin code to the garage door if it’s literally 3700, also known as his birthday. 3/7/2000. He can’t seem to escape it, but at this moment he couldn’t care less because Bill had gotten out of his car and was hugging Richie like he was the only thing on this earth worth his attention.

  
Richie thought for a moment that this might be leading to an apology, but Bill simply kissed the top of his head with a smile, “You r-ready?”

  
“Yeah.” Richie said softly, trying his hardest not to frown at the disappointment.

  
Bill didn’t seem to pick up on how upset Richie was, he merely nodded and gave Richie a quick kiss before they both got in the car. The ride was pretty quiet, Richie stared out his window with a hidden pout while Bill kept changing the radio station every few minutes because nothing good was playing and his aux cord was busted. But Bill turned the radio off when they pulled into his driveway, a big smile spreading across his face.

  
“Okay, Richie.” Bill said as he turned to look at him, “I have a b-bit of a confession to make.”

  
Richie looked at him, confusion showing in the form of furrowed eye brows, “Confession? What kind of confession?” He felt his heart start to speed up, thinking that perhaps this want going to be good.

  
Bill reached over to hold Richie’s hand, “I wasn’t honest with y-you earlier. Georgie doesn’t have p-parent teacher meetings today, I just asked my parents if I could have the house t-to myself tonight.”

  
“What, why?” Richie looked even more confused, all thoughts of his birthday forgotten. He just cared about why Bill would have lied to him.

  
“Because I wanted t-to have the place alone for just me and you.” Bill kissed him softly, “Come inside and you’ll s-s-see.” He quickly got out of the car, waiting for Richie to follow.

  
Richie did, hearing the car lock behind them as they walked to the front door. Bill was unlocking the door when Richie put his hands on his hips, “What’s going on, Bill? You’re acting really shady.” He let his pout show now, afraid that this might end horribly for him. First Bill forgets his birthday and now he’s lying, he was scared of whatever could possibly come next. He had a tendency to assume the worst.

  
Bill frowned, the front door now open, “Don’t pout l-like that.” He leaned in to kiss him again, grabbing his hand gently, “It means your sad and you sh-shuh-shouldn’t be sad. It’ll all make sense in a minute. I p-promise.”

  
Richie kept pouting but nodded, holding Bill’s hand tightly, “Okay… You better have a good explanation, Billiam. If not, I’m walking my ass home and ignoring you until you make it up to me.”

  
“Don’t worry, bugsy. It’s n-nothing bad.” Bill pulled Richie inside with a smile, Richie’s heart melted and he followed him inside with a silent nod. That nickname was reserved exclusively for when Richie was upset, a nickname Bill gave him when they were in elementary school after seeing the other kids bully him for his glasses.

  
_‘Well, if you g-guh-got bug eyes that okay. I like bugs, I helped raise a caterpillar to a p-puh-pretty butterfly. But then we hads to let it go b-back to the outside. Hey! You can be my n-nuh-new bug! Richie’s m-my little bugsy!’_

  
Richie remembered that day fondly, almost not realizing the set up in front of him in Bill’s bedroom. He blinked a few times before it registered, “Bill.. Is that a blanket fort?”

  
Bill laughed with a nod, “Yeah, j-just like when we were k-kids! But better!” He kept hold of Richie’s hand as he walked over to it, letting go of Richie’s hands so he could crawl inside. It was a fairly large blanket fort, sized better for two young adults.

  
Richie smiled but crawled in after him. What caught his attention first was the string of fairly lights Bill had just turned on, giving them a soft light in their fort. Then he noticed Bill’s DVD player on the floor, his small flat screen TV on top of that with the disc menu for The Perks of Being a Wallflower going on loop. On the left was a stack of other DVD cases, more of Richie’s favorites. On the right was a pizza box and a take out bag with the same logo, presumably the wings, and a two liter of Diet Coke with two plastic cups. Just as Richie had requested, “Bill… This is amazing..” Richie smiled and turned to face Bill, seeing him sat against a mountain of pillows with a small box in his hands.

  
Bill smiled widely, a tinge of nervousness evident in a small chuckle, “Happy b-buh-birthday, Richie.”

  
Richie’s froze for a second, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, “Y-you..”

  
_He didn’t forget…_

  
“Hey, c-come here…” Bill said with a frown as he pulled Richie to sit against the pillows with him, “What is it, bugsy? Why are you s-s-sad?”

  
Richie reached up to hug Bill tightly, starting to cry softly, “You d-didn’t forget!!” He burrowed his face in Bill’s shoulder, crying into it.

  
Bill hugged him back just as tight, kissing the side of his head softly, “Of c-course I didn’t, how could I f-f-forget such a special day?” He peppered a few more kisses to the curls, “I wanted to surprise you… I’m s-suh-sorry I upset you.”

  
“You’re an asshole, Bill!” Richie yelled into his shoulder, the sound of his voice muffled by the fabric of Bill’s flannel.

  
Bill just kept kissing his head softly, whispering apologies as he let Richie cling to him. Richie wasn’t even mad, he was relieved. But he had a tendency to bottle his emotions so whenever he started crying, it was hard for him to stop. Bill knows this and just rocked him slowly, letting him get it all out. He knew Richie wasn’t mad, he’d sure as hell let Bill know. They wouldn’t be hugging right now if Richie was mad. No, Richie would be leaving to walk himself home like he said he would earlier. They both knew what this was, just a release of all the pent up emotions he had inside. It was good, it was okay. They were okay, and they love each other more than ever.

  
It was a few minutes before Richie pulled his face from Bill’s shoulder, but he stayed in his arms, “You’re a fucking jerk-ass, pussy, bitch and I hate you.” He mumbled as he rubbed both his eyes.

  
Bill smiled at him, kissing his forehead, “I l-love you too, trashmouth.” But all Bill got in response was another one of Richie’s pouts, causing Bill to chuckle a bit, “Too proud t-to ask for a real kiss, huh?” He smiled more before kissing Richie softly, Richie deepened it in turn.

  
Bill was the first to pull away, rubbing his hands up and down Richie’s arms softly , “I g-got you a present, do you want to open it n-now?”

  
Richie nodded, moving so he was curled up at Bill’s side with Bill’s arm wrapped around his shoulder, “Sure, but you gotta hold me, Billy.”

  
“Sure, birthday b-buh-boy, whatever you want.” Bill chuckled, kissing Richie’s cheek as he grabbed the small box again. It was a baby blue cardboard box, a white ribbon tying the lid down with a nice little bow on top. Bill handed it to Richie with a smile.

  
Richie tugged the ribbon off carelessly before taking the lid off, freezing when he saw it’s contents. The box was filled with white styrofoam with a slit in top. But what made Richie freeze was the ring stuck in it. A simple silver band with a small round stone. The stone was black but it had multicolored specks, it looked like a blackhole had chewed up a rainbow and thats all that remained of it, “Bill… What?” He looked up at him.

  
Bill smiled, kissing Richie’s forehead, “It’s a p-promise ring…” He took the ring out of the box, “To promise th-that I love you and will be by your side. As l-long as you let me.”

  
Richie smiled happily, a cheerful laugh escaping his lips, “I love you too!” He kissed him quickly, his attention then turned back to the ring, “Put it on me, Big Bill!” He was practically bouncing. He’d never been so happy about a gift in his life.

  
“Okay, okay! C-calm down!” Bill laughed, grabbing Richie’s hand gently and slipping the ring on easily, “It’s a b-buh-black opal. I wanted it to be sp-special so I looked up gemstone meanings. I know it’s probably a bunch of b-bull, but still. Opals are associated with emotions, m-mainly love and passion. And they’re b-believed to encourage spontaneity, imagination, dreams, and h-h-healing. I know it’s just a gemstone and doesn’t do shit, but the meaning reminded me of you. And they c-come in different colors, the black one seemed t-to suit you most. You’re a little hell-spawn, a gay hell-spawn.”

  
They both laughed at that last part, Richie looking down at the ring fondly, “It’s perfect, Billy. I love it so much. So, so, so much!” He looked up and Bill again, grabbing his cheek and pulling him into a deep kiss, pulling away a few moments later, “All of this… It’s just amazing.”

  
Bill smiled happily, planting a kiss of Richie’s cheek softly, “Good, now why d-don’t we watch this movie and stuff our faces?”  
Richie laughed and leaned forward, grabbing the pizza box, “That is a wonderful idea.” While he did that, Bill grabbed the remote and started the movie. Richie then relaxed into Bill’s side again, opening the pizza box next to him and getting out a slice, “Best birthday ever.”

 

This is one March 7th neither of them would ever forget, it was a special day in history all their own.

**Author's Note:**

> I was in a mad rush to finish this, I am well aware that it is literal shit. But I hope you enjoyed! Come find me on tumblr @florelunae


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